Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mobility scooters a hit with tired tourists in Vegas
star-telegram.com ^ | 05/26/07 | KATHLEEN HENNESSEY

Posted on 05/26/2007 2:02:20 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3

LAS VEGAS -- There's lazy, and then there's Las Vegas lazy.

In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the four miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric "mobility scooters."

Don't think trendy Vespa motorbikes. Think updated wheelchairs.

Forking over about $40 a day and their pride, apparently healthy tourists are cruising around Las Vegas casinos in transportation intended for the infirm.

You don't have to take a step. You don't even have to put your drink down.

"It was all the walking," 27-year-old Simon Lezama said on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a trim and fit-looking restaurant manager from Odessa, rented it on day three of his five-day vacation.

"And now I can drink and drive, be responsible and save my feet."

The Las Vegas Strip is long past its easily walkable days. Casinos are nearly the size of two football fields -- and that doesn't count the hotel rooms, shopping malls, spas, convention centers, bars and restaurants.

For tourists who plan to stroll from one big casino to another, there are also crowds, construction sites and long stretches of sun-baked sidewalks between.

A tourist could accidentally get some exercise.

Rental business

"We're seeing more and more young people just for the fact that the Strip has gotten so big, the hotels are so large," said Marcel Maritz, owner of Active Mobility, a scooter rental company whose inventory also includes wheelchairs, crutches and walkers.

Most of those using the scooters are obese, elderly or disabled.

But many are young and seemingly fit.

The number of able-bodied renters has grown in the past few years to represent as much as 5 percent of Maritz's business, he said. The company, which contracts with some casinos, has a fleet of about 300 scooters.

"It makes it a lot easier for people to see everything," he said.

At full throttle the scooters reach about 5 mph, though crowded sidewalks allow little opportunity for such speeds.

They can go anywhere wheelchairs can -- elevators, bars, craps tables -- but are banned from streets. They come with a quick operating lesson, an instruction booklet, a horn and a basket.

"At first, I figured it was for handicapped people, but then I saw everybody was getting them. I figured I might as well, too," Lezama said.

Critics

Some find the notion of using a device intended for disabled people unethical.

"It's the same principle as parking in a handicap spot," said Mike Petillo, 64, a disabled tax accountant who recently visited from New York City.

Several hotel desk workers -- who handle most of the rental requests from tourists -- said they try to discourage people who do not appear to need the scooters from renting.

Michelle Bailey, a slender, apparently healthy 22-year-old from Texas, used a scooter to get around a recent pool tournament at the Riviera hotel-casino.

"Four-inch heels," she explained with a laugh, pointing to her lipstick-red pumps.

Simon Lezama, 27, of Odessa drives his electric mobility scooter at the Riviera hotel-casino in Las Vegas.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: lardasses; lasvegas; lazy; losesomeweight; mobilityscooters; tourists
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-71 next last

1 posted on 05/26/2007 2:02:22 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

Good God, what a nation of fat, lazy, worthless pieces of sh!t we’re becoming.


2 posted on 05/26/2007 2:05:29 PM PDT by lesser_satan (FRED THOMPSON '08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lesser_satan

You should see this lady in my neighborhood. Weighs about 400 pounds riding a scooter while walking her dog on a leash.


3 posted on 05/26/2007 2:06:16 PM PDT by Crazieman (The Democratic Party: Culture of Treason)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: lesser_satan

Amazing. I’m not a picture of good fitness but even I can walk the strip.


4 posted on 05/26/2007 2:07:20 PM PDT by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: lesser_satan

If you want to see how bad it’s getting,go to one of the all-you-can-eat buffet/steakhouses.You will see the worst of the worst gluttons on the planet.


5 posted on 05/26/2007 2:13:24 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (Too many hippie retreads in Washington.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

Supermarkets have those, too.

But it’s not the frail little old ladies that use them. It’s the morbidly obese 40/50 year olds. And the scooters don’t have arm rests, so Mr./Ms. Plump’s derriere hangs over both sides of the seat.

They don’t seem to get the irony of driving around the aisles, filling the cart with the food that’s making them fat...


6 posted on 05/26/2007 2:16:51 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie (L'Chaim!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

It’s hard to tell just how “trim and fit-looking” Mr. Lezma is in that Fred Durst outfit of baggy shorts and football jersey.

That combo could make anyone look fat.

So ends my fashonista rant.


7 posted on 05/26/2007 2:17:47 PM PDT by sinanju
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

I hope the rental company gets its money upfront and that the scooters have global positioning on them, they may be the only way home for some folks :)


8 posted on 05/26/2007 2:19:43 PM PDT by ears_to_hear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

What’s next? Hiring people to pull the levers?


9 posted on 05/26/2007 2:20:35 PM PDT by loreldan (Without coffee I am nothing. Romney supporter for now...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

Note to self: Get to Vegas and open that helper-monkey and muumuu rental shop ASAP.


10 posted on 05/26/2007 2:24:58 PM PDT by Spruce
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3

Isn’t this just what that segway scooter thing was meant for? I think I see a business oportunity here that no one seems to be pouncing on.

I know I’d rather stand tall than sit in a crappy old handy-capped scooter. Also, the segway would be less obtrusive to others since it takes up far less floor space.


11 posted on 05/26/2007 2:27:19 PM PDT by mamelukesabre
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: loreldan
What’s next? Hiring people to pull the levers?

Cruise Control and GPS-self-piloting!
12 posted on 05/26/2007 2:31:10 PM PDT by JayNorth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie

Supermarkets should put the really fatty, high-calorie foods on the top shelf *snicker*


13 posted on 05/26/2007 2:37:56 PM PDT by Sender ("America is at that awkward stage..." - Claire Wolfe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: mamelukesabre
I use a mobility scooter to run around town, and enjoy it.

I’m not hurting anybody, I bought it with my own funds, and I’m not paying $3.50/gallon for gas.’’I do not use handicapped parking spaces for it (but I DO use a motorcycle / bicycle space).

I do NOT take it into stores, preferring to walk around with my shopping cart.

I have purchased a bicycle trailer to drag behind the chair, and it can carry 100 lbs of groceries.

All in all, I’m quite happy with it.

14 posted on 05/26/2007 2:42:36 PM PDT by Lokibob (Some people are like slinkys. Useless, but if you throw them down the stairs, you smile.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: mamelukesabre
Yeah the Segway would be the ideal Vegas machine. Put a drink holder and a token bucket on there and hit the carpet!

As a bonus, drunken Segway riders might provide extra entertainment. That balancing system can only go so far.

15 posted on 05/26/2007 2:44:41 PM PDT by Sender ("America is at that awkward stage..." - Claire Wolfe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Sender

Try that drinking and driving on your scooter in Florida. Your stupid scooter would be confiscated and you’d be in jail. They’ll charge DUI here if you’re riding a horse, or lawn tractor.


16 posted on 05/26/2007 2:48:29 PM PDT by tenthirteen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Lokibob
As long as it isn’t rented as “handicapped” who cares. Does everyone walk to hotels or do they drive or catch a cab? No one has ever rode the train? What about elevators? Should those only be for handicapped too? My concern is that they need a different design though. I will offer assistance to the handicapped but would really be annoyed if it was an abled bodied person.
17 posted on 05/26/2007 2:51:42 PM PDT by CindyDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: TornadoAlley3
The Las Vegas Strip is long past its easily walkable days.

Nonsense - it's best to walk it anyway. I lose five pounds every time I go. ;)

18 posted on 05/26/2007 2:54:38 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Wise men don't need to debate; men who need to debate are not wise." -- Tao Te Ching)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Crazieman

Well at least, as handicapped as she is, she still takes care of her dog. How about praying for her health instead of making fun of her?


19 posted on 05/26/2007 2:55:17 PM PDT by CindyDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Farmer Dean

I am on a diet. Fat people aren’t jolly when they diet. Maybe these “gluttons” have saved calories for this trip. Maybe they are just enjoying their vacation. Maybe they walk across the casinos. I’m really getting tired of the fat “snickers” around here.


20 posted on 05/26/2007 2:58:14 PM PDT by CindyDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-71 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson